If, like me, you have entered a room in your own home and are unable to remember why, you may like to know there is a psychological theory that offers an explanation.

 

Thanks to an evolutionary throwback, when we enter a new environment, our brains perform a rapid reset. It’s hardwiring from our ancestors who constantly scanned for safety and the unknown. Our modern brains still register the shift, and even in a familiar setting, it picks up “new environment, new information’ when you switch rooms, interrupting your conscious flow of thought. Which is why you can leave the kitchen, go upstairs and have no idea what it was you went for.

 

The more change the brain registers at each threshold, the more work it is doing. One way of helping to reduce this cognitive load is to decorate using a small palette of related colours throughout the home. You can still create variation and be creative, it just offers a manageable framework for your whole home.

 

Each room retains its own character, while the overall atmosphere remains consistent. Nothing needs to be repeated in the same way, but everything relates and the effect is a house that feels connected rather than segmented, which the brain reads as more familiar and therefore easy to be in.

 

I’d love to say that it spells the end for mid-stairs forgetfulness (it won’t), but your home will ask less of you as you move through it with far fewer decisions waiting at each doorway.

This month, I’ve selected two small groups of colours from the colour card to illustrate decorating a whole home and still have variation. I’ve selected tones and shades which will always work together and imagined them in three spaces, a hallway, kitchen and sitting room. We have a group containing muted, cool and calming colours, and a group of richer, warmer and grounding colours.

 

A palette for an orderly home.

Gentle in energy, and easy to live with, this palette will suit those who prefer steadiness over drama and prefer a subtle, calm and ordered environment which a touch of elegance.

 

 

 

A tactile palette

A weightier palette of colours, with a rich, earthiness that has a grounding quality. If you prefer the patina of brass to silver chrome and the feel of fibrous textures like jute and linen, you may well feel drawn to this palette.

 

 

All good Wishes,

 

Ashely Aspin